Changing

Posts Tagged ‘changing’

Depressed. P90X. Not losing weight. Changing diet doesn’t work.?

April 13th, 2010

My Health

I weigh 135 lbs and have weighed that much for about a year. I’m 18 and am 5’4″. My doctor says I’m fine and I know I’m healthy but I want to be thinner. In fact this is all I want. My therapist told me that losing weight won’t make me happy, but I am confident that this is not true. If it were true, people wouldn’t be posting their weight loss success stories on the web and thanking programs like P90X for giving their lives back to them. The source of my unhappiness is not having lost more than 2 pounds in the years that I’ve been working at this. I feel like I’ve tried absolutely everything except what has been proven unhealthy, like fad diets and pills. Four years ago I tried just eating less, but I was always hungry. That went on for about 6 or 7 months and I went from 107 lbs at 5’2.5″ to 96.8 lbs. I realize now that I wasn’t eating enough protein at the time and wasn’t taking in enough healthy fats. Now, the most I can lose by strictly following Tosca Reno’s Eat-Clean Diet plan is 2 pounds (BTW in her book she stresses that this is not a diet but a lifestyle change). What I’ve learned is that I must be at the lowest weight that is healthy for me. But I can’t accept that because I see hardly any muscle tone. Sometimes when I eat healthy food too strictly, I end up craving more food and just eating more food altogether. When I ate healthy food for a month, 5 meals a day with a recommended cheat meal every week, I ended up gaining weight. When I switched back to eating a little sugary snack everyday with a reasonably balanced diet, I dropped the weight again.
Then I decided to eat normally–for me that’s eating a balanced diet with a sugary snack everyday–and do P90X for 2 months. That’s how long I have until I have to go away to college. I’m almost done with my third week. The first week I dropped to 133 lbs because the exercise was decreasing my appetite. It felt really good not to have to consume as much food to satisfy my needs. However, once my body started building muscle I had to eat more again. I’m back to 135 lbs. At first my sister said I looked thinner but I know that’s just because my stomach looked thinner since there was less food in it that first week. I’ve seen small changes in my arms. My shoulders look more muscular. However, yesterday I was out with my friends and they said nothing about me looking any different. They don’t know I’m doing P90X and didn’t notice anything. My clothes aren’t fitting looser either. I feel like close to nothing has changed, despite the fact that I’m working really hard at every workout.
This morning I felt awful. I was supposed to do the Yoga workout today but I couldn’t stop crying during the first 5 minutes of it so I had to stop. My sister is annoyed at my crying and tells me I look bad in everything that I wear. It doesn’t seem fair that she so thin and toned and I’m not. When we were younger it was always the opposite.

Any encouragement at this point will be greatly appreciated. Just please don’t coach me about my diet. I’ve been reading internet information about weight loss from both credited sources and weight loss forums for about 5 years now, and I’ve put myself through regimens constantly for just as long. Unless you’re a dietician or nutritionist, I’ll have my doubts about whatever you say concerning what I eat. My question mainly goes out to those familiar with fitness/exercise.

I wrote everything I thought was necessary for you to get an idea of what shape I’m in. Any questions, please ask.

Posted in Fitness

Tags: changing, Depressed., diet, Doesn't, losing, p90x, weight, work

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Sports Nutrition – Changing Through The Years

March 5th, 2010

My Health

Advancements in medicine and an increase in capitalism in the world as well as other factors all contributed to the development of the field of sports nutrition.

As scientists learned more and more about our bodies and the optimum level of strength and physical fitness they can harbor, businessmen jumped the gun and manufactured products and services that actually help athletes meet these optimum levels. The media joined in the ruckus and published materials leading to the promotion of both the scientific and the commercial side of the field.

Sports nutrition has been changing through the years around the world. It’s not just that the topics are different; the emphasis and approach have also changed.A sports magazine carried an article on dehydration in runners on October 1990, its maiden issue. This article compared the benefits of plain water with those of dilute glucose solutions, which are more isotonic and therefore absorbed more rapidly.

Today, go into almost any supermarket, convenience stores and even school cafeterias and you’ll find a ready supply of sports drinks aimed at maintaining hydration just like glucose solutions.

The difference is that by using soluble long-chain glucose polymers instead of simple glucose, it’s now possible to create an isotonic hydrating drink which also supplies significant amounts of carbohydrate to working muscles. And, the good thing is, sports drinks also taste better.

More than 10 years ago, it was made public that muscle damage brought about by free-radicals may be reduced by having supplements of antioxidant vitamins A, C and E. Years after, antioxidant supplementation became a norm in the world of sports nutrition.

Now, researchers are also beginning to understand that muscle damage is a more complex subject. It is difficult to assess free radical damage in athletes and it has been found out that large amounts of antioxidant nutrients may actually cause cellular damage and impair performance.

The “Carbo loading” technique has been widely used over the years by athletes all over the world. A carbohydrate-rich diet is important in maintaining muscle glycogen stores thus ensuring high endurance levels.

However, in the 1990s it became clear that the “glycaemic index” and release rate of different carbohydrates had important influence on when they should best be consumed in relation to physical activity.

The relationship of carbohydrates and proteins were also discovered namely that carbohydrates promote protein-sparing in the body. It was also discovered recently that consuming carbohydrates before and during prolonged bouts of strenuous exercise can help protect the immune system.

One of the most exciting recent developments in sports nutrition has been the rise of creatine supplementation. The use of creatine is now very common. Creatine renews the muscles essential energy source, ATP or adenosine triphosphate. Increased levels in muscles optimizes energy turnover meaning you’ll more energy for high power exercise and faster recovery during and after workouts. Creatine also increases the athlete’s maximum effort, delays fatigue and therefore prolongs endurance.

New wisdom and therefore new products have definitely enabled athletes to fuel themselves better, work harder, train longer and recover more rapidly. However, as in any kind of innovation there will always be downsides.

Nutritional supplements available to most athletes in the 80s were very straightforward. Some athletes took drugs but the boundaries between nutritional supplements and drugs clear. Today, the race to find new formulas to boost performance has resulted to the availability of sports nutrition supplements which do not really occur naturally. The result is that the distinction between a nutrient and a performance-enhancing substance has become increasingly blurred.

Some of these supplements contain ingredients that can cause athletes to violate the rules and regulations governing their sport because of unintentional contamination by other, “exotic”, substances present in the supplement manufacturing environment.

More developments will be created in the world of sports nutrition and these will definitely spawn ethical questions. “Nutrigenomics” – the relationship between genetics and nutrition – will be more researched upon.

As scientists become more skilled at discovering the processes of our genes, it will be possible that rather than adopting a general approach for sports nutrition, athletes around the world will be genetically tested to help them determine precise individual requirements for optimum health.The following years will predictably be more exciting for the world of sports nutrition.

Posted in Natural

Tags: changing, nutrition, sports, Through, Years

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Convincing family? – So who says you have to convince ANYBODY?

June 17th, 2009

My Health

BE QUIET ABOUT IT – I don’t mean to suggest you be sneaky at all, but you don’t have to even mention it to your family. Just make selective changes once or twice a week. Its not like you need their permission. You were put in charge of feeding them after all, right? They don’t have to know everything just now – lol.

PACE YOURSELF – Do NOT try to do everything at once. You set yourself up to fail when you do that. Outline what you think needs to change FIRST, etc…. and then set stair step goals over several MONTHS, both for yourself and for each family member you are caring for. Gradually work all the “bad extras” out and all the “healthy goodies” in. They’ll never know what hit ‘em )

USE THE BOOK AS A GUIDE, NOT A BIBLE – Eat Fat Lose Fat” is a neat book. Ive lent mine out at the moment so I cant look at the specific recipes, but you know what changes need to be made and you know those recipes are fairly basic……be creative. What I was able to discern was that meal suggestions were always presented based on a common routine:

* Breakfast: Meat and/or Eggs + Buttered toast or Hot Cereal w/ Butter & Cream + Milk (either doctored up or kefir)
* Lunch: Soup Stock of some sort w/ meat and veggies + wheat-free or unleavened bread + raw milk or cheese + a LF beverage
* Dinner: Meat w/ LF Vegetables + Steamed Veggies w/ butter + Raw milk or cheese
* Supplements: coconut oil 20 minutes before each meal + cod liver oil in the morning

EVALUATE – Look at your families actual nutritional needs realistically. How many people do you need to feed every day? How many grams each of protein, fat & carbs does that add up too? Now look at the food around you that’s available and use that to build you shopping list. I suggest you spend the top dollar on good fats, the next on quality meats & dairy, then produce and finally grains & cereals. Buy the best you can
afford…..always organic if possible, but keep in mind the coconut oil undoes a lot of the bad in lesser qualities of other foods, in that it adds SO MUCH to our health. Your food budget will determine what you do
obviously….but knowing what your needs are SPECIFICALLY is a great way to learn to recognize Gods provision in your kitchen….and you can budget for the other stuff you’ve been buying with the leftovers – lol

I used the Optimal Diet Calculator to set a guide for myself and then went and looked up the protein, fat & carbs values in a book I got at a thrift store for a quarter ). You can read about the calculator here:
http://www.answers.com/topic/optimal-diet

Basically, you take the persons height in inches, convert it to centimeters (inches x 2.54) and subtract 100 from the centimeters to arrive at a “due body weight”. The due body weight determines how much of each of the food groups the person should consume daily: Protein should be the same number as the due body weight (in grams)….Fats (minimum) should be the due body weight times 2.5 (in grams) ……and carbs should be the due body weight times .8 (in grams). When you add all this us you have a minimum in grams of food that that person should consume on any given day….viola’…. now you know what to shop for. The maximum fat that should be consumed in a day can be calculated by taking the due body weight times 3.5. I don’t know how NT this is, but the ratios look similar and again, its not a legalistic sort of thing….its a budgeting tool for me.

STAY SIMPLY – I bought coconut oil in a 5 gallon bucket this week. Its sort of hard to justify the expense all at once ($160ppd) but I made a shopping list that’s VERY BASIC and our meals are starting out very
plain…but that’s okay. They are filling and I happen to like seasonings, so I make things spicy and they generally like them. My husband once made the comment….good fats are a good thing, but not if you have nothing to cook IN them. I think he opened the fridge for a snack and saw only things that had to be cooked. I noted the time of day and the circumstances surrounding hs trip to the fridge and had to make
sure he could find snacks the next time. Hes right…its a matter of balance.

* Make beet kvass first (its best if it ferments a couple of months
IMVHO)
* Buy your coconut oil
(http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/bulkoil/a-c.php

is great & cheapest when you buy in bulk) & coconut milk, though Ive chosen to use raw milk and whole heavy cream most of the time, due to all the coconut oil I use.
* Make homemade chicken stock by the quart and freeze it. makes everything taste good!
* Find a raw milk source near you and get a kefir your started

CONSIDER THE LOWLY SOUP POT – In the olden days keeping soup going was a norm. You can make soup taste like pizza and not have anything bad in it! Soup is a definate money stretcher. I personally think coconut oil is awesome and have nothing in the house but it, olive oil & butter. No one has complained…as long as I dont make them drink it like I do – lol.

STAY FUN & POSITIVE ABOUT IT – Dont serve “country style” serve very nice plates filled in the kitchen and carried to a table with a nice tablecloth and a homemade centerpiece. You can get some really pretty
mix & match dishes at thrift stores for next to nothing…just focus on different shades of one or two colors.

BE GENTLE WITH YOURSELF & YOUR FAMILY – Sure things will taste different from time to time…be gentle in your initial choices. Your out to win them over to a new way of life, not to show them what a drag eating
healthy is supposedly. Ive heard it said after youve eaten something three times you develop a taste for it. Disciple yourself to make a chosen GENTLE CHANGE recipe that is SIMPLE, once a week for a month and
see if they don’t “just get used to it”. Holding ourselves back from pushing them away is one of our best defenses in winning the war….they can eventually become our best support system )

I hope this helps someone. Im just getting started on this little journey, PRACTICALLY speaking myself. I have actually been praying about it with a friend for quite some time. God moves us all along ONLY as quickly as we are willing to listen and (coming out of an pediatric R.N. background) I had a lot
to lay down. Others need to know Im not “there” yet, But I can and look forward to walking WITH THEM )